Saturday, Dec 09, 2006

In an effort to broaden Morocco's appeal to tourists, the country's Atlas mountain ski zone is being developed to offer a greater range of sports, says Catherine Moye

Morocco used to draw western roues keen to indulge exotic tastes while floating round the souk in a kaftan. Now a Dollars 5.34bn initiative spearheaded by the country's king could see a more active breed of foreigner arriving.

At Oukaimeden in the Atlas Mountains, which is already an established ski area, expansion plans are under way to create Africa's only combined skiing and golf resort, with 2,000 hotel rooms, 25,000 sq metres of office and retail space and an as yet unspecified residential element. Nearby in the Ourika valley, a short drive from both Oukaimeden and Marrakech, land prices have increased five-fold in as many years and there is something of a villa building boom under way.

"Morocco has been seen as a winter sun destination but with the current plans for Oukaimeden we anticipate it will be the best of both worlds," says Jonathan Salsbury of estate agency Colliers CRE. He is marketing Domaine de L'Akhdar, a group of 30 three-bedroom villas from Dubai-based Emmar, designed in the local Riad style by Moroccan architect Charles Boccara and priced from Dh3.75m (Pounds 225,000). "People with property in the area will be able to enjoy the warmth of the Moroccan sun then be able to travel less than an hour to experience world-class skiing."

Those without a partisan interest are understandably sceptical about Oukaimeden's chances of competing with -traditional European ski locales. "It's total rubbish to say the Atlas Mountains will ever turn into the new Alps," says John Hill, editor of The Good Ski Guide. "Right now, there's simply no infrastructure so that a donkey pulls you up the hill to the slopes. The sun is too strong, so when it does snow for long enough it won't last. And the altitude is so high (more than 3,250 metres) it's just no good for people who are not really fit."

But others insist that an improved ski area will be an added draw to an already attractive area. Salsbury points out that there will be snow canons on the lower slopes to provide the snow suitable for less experienced skiers and families as well as a wide range of other recreational activities, including golf and "indoor" skiing facilities, hiking and mountain biking.

Morocco lovers Lynn Guinness and Francis Pike agree that the country has a lot to offer even without Oukaimeden. They are developing a small scheme of six traditional courtyard houses, each set on a half hectare of land, in the Ourika valley and priced from about Dh9.93m. "I came here five years ago for the first time and just fell in love with Morocco, so I bought a plot of land to build my own house here," Guinness says. "At the time my intention was just to keep a few chickens."

She subsequently met Pike, a historian and dealer in Russian and Byzantine icons who is married to the artist India-Jane Birley, and when her own courtyard house was finished they were so impressed with the skill of the workmen that they decided to build six more. Moroccan architect Karim el Achak was hired to design them. "Francis had this romantic notion that the scheme should be named after a warrior scholar, so we've called it Saladin," Guinness says.

Peter Roberts and his wife Caroline have a similar story. They fell in love with Morocco's climate (year-round sunshine with dry, hot days and cool nights) and its people (the friendly local Berbers in the desert and the Afro-European mix in the cities). And, three years ago, they started building houses in the Atlas foothills.

"You get all the benefits of the French and English culture but it's mixed in with a real sense of the exotic that so much of Europe that's been colonised by Brits lacks," Roberts says.

His development, Bab Adrar d'Atlas, comprises just eight two- to five-bedroom properties, also designed by el Achak, set in 20 acres of sub-tropical gardens rich in olive groves, palms and citrus trees, with the snow-capped Atlases as a backdrop. No two houses are the same, though all are constructed in traditional rustic Moroccan style and have a private swimming pool. Prices start at about Dh8.6m.

On a rather more ambitious level but in the same region is the new 704-acre Samanah Country Club development. Plans are for 560 villas with three to six bedrooms, situated around a Jack Nicklaus golf course and priced from Dh4.1m. Ten minutes by road from Marrakech and 40 minutes from Oukaimeden, it will also include three five-star hotels, bars, restaurants, shops and a businesses centre with seminar facilities. Saffron Villas, which is marketing Samanah in the UK, estimates that property values will rise by as much as 20 per cent within the next two years, helped in part by the ski resort improvements.

Morocco still has a long way to go before Europeans see it as an obvious holiday home destination. There is a palpable divide between rich and poor (many people are illiterate and live on little more than Dollars 5 a day) and about 30 per cent of the population is said to support al-Qaeda.

But the king and foreign developers are working to prove the country has turned a corner, making the hedonistic, drug den days ancient history. "I would liken Morocco to what the south of France was like 80 years ago, when it was exclusive and before it got spoiled by over-crowding and Eurotrash," Roberts says.

By CATHERINE MOYE